Rev Left Radio Nonviolence is Violence, Too: Somebody's Gotta Die
21 snips
Feb 4, 2026 
Too Black, poet, organizer, and essayist who hosts Black Myths Podcast, offers a sharp rethink of nonviolence. He argues nonviolence often depends on repression to succeed. Conversations trace sacrificial violence, the “poking the bear” metaphor, contrasts between MLK and Fanon, and how colonial power makes bloodshed method-independent.
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Nonviolence Depends On A Violent Reaction
- Nonviolence as practiced often requires an opponent's violent reaction to succeed.
- Too Black argues that materially nonviolence depends on provoking repression to dramatize injustice.
Organizers Train For Expected Brutality
- Too Black recounts working on the Pendleton Two campaign and learning how activists prepare for brutality.
- He notes freedom riders wrote wills and organizers trained participants for likely violence.
Call Tactical Nonviolence 'Sacrificial Violence'
- Too Black distinguishes nonviolence as philosophy from nonviolence as tactic.
- He calls tactical nonviolence 'sacrificial violence' because protesters willfully absorb violence to achieve goals.
